1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a technique for installing a device driver of an output device into a server in a system including a client terminal, the server, and the output device connected to a network in response to an instruction from THE client terminal. More particularly, the invention relates to a print managing apparatus as a server for installing a device driver, a device driver registering method, and a device driver registering program.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, there has existed a mechanism such that documents to be printed or outputted are managed in a server having a Web server function (hereinafter, referred to as a Web server), the Web server is accessed from a browser of a client connected to the Web server via a network, and a printing/outputting instruction of the documents managed in the Web server is made by the client, thereby printing/outputting the documents managed in the Web server. According to such a system, since the documents can be unitarily managed in the Web server, the management becomes easy, and since the documents are managed in the Web server and downloading of the documents by the client is not permitted, there is also an advantage in terms of security.
In recent years, since prices of printers and facsimile apparatuses, which are connected to the network for connecting the Web server and the clients have been lowered, a plurality of output devices (an electrophotographic printer, an ink jet printer, a facsimile apparatus, a digital hybrid apparatus, and the like) exist on the network. In this case, for example, in order to use the printer, it is necessary that a printer driver corresponding to the printer on the print destination side has been installed in a computer for forming print data. Generally, since the user of the client (owner of the client) can install the printer driver to be used, the printer driver which is necessary for the printer on the print destination side has properly been installed in each client.
However, in a remote print system such that the Web server manages the documents, the print instruction is made to the Web server by the client, and the forming process of print data based on the documents is executed on the Web server, printer devices which can be used for printing by the client who makes the print instruction are limited to the devices in which the printer driver has previously been installed in the Web server. Also in the case where the client requests the Web server to make remote facsimile transmission, it is necessary that a facsimile driver has been installed in the Web server. However, as mentioned above, many output devices exist on the network, so that, frequently, it is not the case that the device drivers corresponding to the output devices which the clients want to use have always been installed in the Web server for managing the documents.
To add the device, which can be used by such a system, therefore, the device driver (printer driver/facsimile driver) corresponding to the device has to be installed in the Web server by the operation by an administrator. At the same time, a port corresponding to the device has to be formed and its communication protocol has to be set.
However, as network environments are enlarged, port management becomes complicated, because it is necessary to construct the port by the server operation and set a communication protocol as mentioned above in the conventional procedure, so that it is a large problem.